Frank Grillo drawn to his role in "The Purge: Anarchy"

Frank Grillo in The Purge: Anarchy

Amanda Friedman, Teenlink correspondent, Nova High

Bringing fear and animosity back to the big screen, "The Purge: Anarchy" is filled with suspense, action and excitement. Frank Grillo stars as Leo, who leads a group of four hoping to survive the night.

Unlike the first movie, the sequel takes the audience out on Purge Night, where they discover helpless victims. Leo acts as a Robin Hood figure, taking in the powerless and helping them get through the evening.

Grillo met with press in Miami last month to reveal the secret to making it out alive. He greeted the media with a hearty smile and a warming presence.

After transitioning from playing the villain in "Captain America" to the hero in "The Purge," he said he liked playing a character at the other end of the spectrum.

“It was fun to be the guy, you know? I love the idea of the Purge and how this time it was on a much grander scope,” Grillo said. “It was fun to take this character on a journey and end up somewhere that he didn’t think he was going to end up.”

Grillo was excited about taking on a role for a film with such a unique subject matter. He was drawn to it.

“When I met with James DeMonaco, he was so passionate and so clear about where he wanted the Purge to go,” Grillo said. “This little movie, 'The Purge,' that he had filmed a year prior was a big hit. He wanted to expand on what I think is an interesting idea.”

Grillo’s character being out on Purge Night is a mystery that haunts viewers from the moment his character is introduced. Concealing his true intentions, his character comes off as misunderstood.

“I think that he's a guy who in his normal everyday life is a law-abiding citizen and something catastrophic happens to summon this mindset,” he says.”He feels hurt and as a result uses the Purge as a mechanism to achieve what he believes is true justice. I don’t believe that he is a bad guy. The first time he sees somebody in need, he pulls over.”

Grillo said the most difficult part of shooting the film was emotional, not physical.

"I'm a physical person. I fight, I box, I do all of those fun things," he said. "But that end scene of the end of the movie, where this guy really opens himself up for the world to see, that was probably the most difficult part of shooting. Fortunately we shot that at the end, so I had all this time to go through this as he did."

With such an intriguing idea, many wonder how society even got to this point. Suspicion of a prequel is surely on the rise.

"A prequel? Absolutely. It is fantasy, I mean, this is never going to happen. But I think as a movie, as an idea, as fantasy, I think there's an endless amount of stories as long as people are interested in seeing the film.

"I think the main message of this film is twofold. I think what the message is, is that we should all be very conscious of how we treat each other regardless of our economic status, our socio statu. We should all be conscious of who we are as people. Because if we all lived with more compassion, we’d be in a better place. We have access to so many things technology-wise, so theoretically we should all be getting along and not wanting to kill each other,” Grillo said. "The other message is that we all need to question our own motives and how we behave in times of crisis, in times when we feel wrong. It’s not just a scary movie, you know, it’s an opposite reality."

In the beginning of the film, Grillo saves two struggling people about to be slaughtered. When asked whether he would do the same, he responded with a firm answer.

"Yes, I think that anybody, any person, who has a soul would put themselves and their needs aside to help people. I think that there is a level of altruism in all of us that wants to help our fellow human beings.”

Frank Grillo is married to his wife, Wendy Moniz, and has three children. One of his many future projects include "The Raid," directed by Patrick Hughes. He hopes for a Purge 3, as well, and with the success of the first one, there's no telling what the future will hold for the saga.